What is a Liberal Arts College Anyway?

People in the college counseling world tend to throw around terms like "research university" and "liberal arts college", but what do these terms really mean?  And more importantly, how do you choose which type of school is best for you?

In brief, a research university is one where a significant portion of the money to run the school comes in the form of research grants.  This generally means that there is exciting, cutting-edge research going on, often with professors who are well-respected in their fields.  While this can be exciting to be a part of, and the professors are, by necessity, staying current in their respective fields through the research they are conducting, it comes with a price.  The professors' time is split between research and teaching - and this may impact the time and effort they are able to devote to their classes.  Typically, but not always, research universities tend to be large, with intro level classes often having enrollments of hundreds of students.  These classes are then split into discussion sessions run by graduate teaching assistants.  So even though the university may boast professors who are Nobel Laureates, the average undergraduate student may never actually interact significantly with those instructors.

Liberal arts colleges and universities, on the other hand, tend to be smaller and focused almost exclusively on teaching undergraduates.  Professors may or may not be involved in research in their respective fields, but if they are, the focus is still firmly on teaching.  Class sizes tend to be smaller (often under 20 students per class) and students are able to develop a closer relationship with their instructors.  The benefits of a liberal arts education include more interaction with professors, smaller class sizes, and a greater focus on teaching.  Liberal arts colleges focus on developing excellent oral and written communication skills, as well as critical thinking skills, which can be applied to nearly any career.  These types of colleges also tend to have excellent success rates in terms of students moving on to graduate or professional study.  A 2010 article from CBS news laid out 5 reasons to attend a liberal arts college. Again, however, this comes with a price.  The drawbacks: the university is less likely to be involved in cutting-edge research, there is often a smaller selection of majors, and students are unlikely to find specialized majors such as industrial design or dietetics.

There are some common misconceptions of liberal arts colleges.  To dispel these myths and set the record straight, keep in mind the following:

• Liberal arts colleges are not necessarily connected with liberal politics or thinking.  The culture at a liberal arts college could be predominantly conservative or predominantly liberal - it depends on the college.
• Most liberal arts colleges have strong programs in math and science as well as humanities, social science, and art.
• Liberal arts colleges have some of the highest success rates in students going on to graduate and professional schools.
• Liberal arts colleges are not inherently any more or less expensive than other types of schools - again, it depends on the school and the amount of financial aid you qualify for.
• You don't have to be interested in art to attend and succeed at a liberal arts college.

So which type of school is best for you? There are many factors that affect how well a college or university fits your needs, and the distinction between research university and liberal arts school is only one of these many factors.  But in general, consider the following:

A liberal arts school might better fit your needs if:

• You want a personal connection and significant interaction with your professors
• You want small class sizes where interaction is a key part of the class
• You are planning to major in a general area of science, art, humanities, or social science

On the other hand, a larger research institution may be better if:

• Being around cutting-edge research is important to you
• You thrive in a larger, more diverse environment (socially and academically)
• Class size, particularly in intro classes, is not important to you
• You are interested in a more specialized field of study

More information can be found in this excellent article from Education.com  Whatever you decide, be sure to thoroughly explore the offerings at schools you are interested in, and, if possible, try to visit the school in person to see how you would fit in (see post on Campus Visits from July 2012).

FAFSA Season again

If you are a senior, or the parent of a senior, the single most important thing you can do right now to support your college journey is to complete the FAFSA.  That's the free application for federal student aid, and it's the gateway to almost any type of financial aid you're likely to receive.  To complete the FAFSA, go to www.fafsa.ed.gov and follow the instructions to start a new FAFSA.

The FAFSA will ask about the student's and parent's income and assets, and will calculate an Expected Family Contribution (or EFC) based on the information you provide.  It's important to understand that the EFC is not necessarily what you will pay for college, but it is an important factor in determining your financial need.  Your financial need will be the difference between the cost of attendance (COA) at the school you attend and your EFC.

The information on the FAFSA determines your eligibility for federal grants such as the Pell Grant and state grants, including the Cal Grant and California Middle Class Scholarship in California.  State grants are available in many other states as well. Furthermore, most scholarships will require that you have filed a FAFSA, and will use that information to determine income-based eligibility.

Some important things to note about the FAFSA:

• Although the FAFSA will ask for information from your tax return, you do not have to wait until you have filed taxes before submitting the FAFSA.  You can use estimated income, then go back and make changes after you file your taxes.
• If you are a California resident, be sure to file the FAFSA before March 2.  This is the deadline for the state grants, including the Cal Grant and the California Middle Class Scholarship.
• If you are eligible for the Cal Grant, be sure to submit your GPA verification by March 2.  See your high school counselor for information on how to do this.
• If your parents are separated or divorced, you will only provide income information for the parent you live with most of the time, and their spouse, if they are remarried.  If you live with each parent 50% of the time, you should provide income information for the parent who provides most of your financial support.
• Make sure you are on the correct website - you want .gov NOT .com  There is a fafsa.com website that may charge you up to $100 to file this free application.  
• You need to complete the FAFSA each year.  You should file as soon as possible after January 1st of each year.

Once you have completed the FAFSA, you will receive a Student Aid Report (SAR) which will include your EFC, along with a summary of information you entered in the FAFSA.  Check your SAR for accuracy, and follow the directions you'll receive with the SAR if you need to make corrections. 

Undocumented students in California who meet the requirements of AB540 should complete the Dream Act application.  It is similar to the FAFSA, but does not require a social security number.  The Dream Act assesses eligibility for the Cal Grant and California Middle Class Scholarship, and provides important information regarding eligibility for institution - based aid. 

Once you have finished your college applications, make sure your student aid report is sent to all colleges you have applied to.  You can list up to 10 colleges on the FAFSA, if you apply to a college after completing the FAFSA and did not have the information sent, contact the financial aid office at the college to make sure they receive the information from your FAFSA.  They will use this information to determine your eligibility for financial aid.

Eventually, you should receive a financial aid offer letter from each college you are accepted to.  Be sure to check your online portal for each college to make sure they are not missing any important information.  If you have questions about the offer, you should contact the school's financial aid office.  College Options, a community-based advising service in Northern California, has a tool for comparing offer letters, along with a wealth of general information on financial aid: http://www.collegeoptions.org/#!financial-aid/c8k2

If you play your cards correctly, you'll have a variety of options to choose from.  Now you just need to sit back and decide.

SUMMER AGAIN!!!

            It’s that time of year again when students take a deep breath and look forward to the freedom of summer.  While some students are stocking up on novels to keep them company through those long, open days, and others are flexing their fingers in anticipation of hours of gaming, or perhaps dreaming of long, lazy, days at the lake, summer also offers an opportunity to complete some preparation for college and career that can be hard to fit into the busy weeks during the school year.  The following summer activities can help you get ready for the day you graduate – which tends to come sooner than you might think!

1. Get a job.  Work experience is great for your resume, and for college and scholarship applications.  The extra money in your pocket isn’t bad either.
2. Find an internship in a career field you’re interested in.  While you might not get paid right now, this valuable experience can help you get a job later on, and can also help you figure out if this is really what you want to do.
3. Volunteer. There are plenty of community organizations that could use your help.  Find something you’re interested in, like helping people, improving the environment, or working with animals.  It’s also a great way to meet people with similar interests.  And it’ll give you something to put on your resume and/or college and scholarship applications later.
4. Explore your interests.  Learn something new.  Learn a new sport or skill.  It may be that this is the summer you discover your love of herpetology, and launch yourself into a long and satisfying career.
5. Dream about your future.  And when you’re done dreaming, do a little planning. Think about where you might want to live, and do some online searching for colleges that offer majors you’re interested in.  For that matter, do some online searching on different majors and careers and find out what they’re all about.  
6. If you just finished your junior year, research deadlines for applications for colleges you’re interested in as well as scholarships you might qualify for.  Fall of senior year is likely to be extremely busy, and the more organized you can be now, the better off you’ll be come fall.
7. If you have the chance, visit some college campuses.  See what it’s like to walk around campus, and if there are students there for summer session, ask them what it’s like to go to school there.

            Yes, it’s true (probably) that you’ve worked hard all year and have earned yourself a little rest and relaxation.  And by all means, relax and have some fun.  But while you’re doing that, spend a few of your free hours looking to the future.   

Talking about College Costs

It seems that work and other life commitments have completely overrun my schedule for the last little bit here, and it's been quite a while since my last post.  These days I'm spending a lot of time thinking about financial aid, however, and I felt I needed to share a few thoughts on thinking (and talking) about college costs.

If you are a senior (or the parent of a senior) reading this, I'm sorry, it might be too late.  But read on, maybe you can pass this advice on to your friends who are (or who have children who are) freshmen, juniors, sophomores, or even middle school students.  Seriously, it is never too early to start talking about college costs. There are several reasons for this:

First, it takes awhile to research grants and scholarships. If you start this process your senior year, you might only have a few months to complete your research before the scholarship deadlines have passed you by.  Some of the larger scholarships require a lot from you in terms of information on your community involvement, extra-curricular activities, academic achievements, and essays or personal statements.  If you are rushing the process of compiling this information and writing your essays, you may not be presenting your best work - and you are competing with many other students who want that money just as much as you do.  Start now collecting the information and thinking about how you want to present yourself in those personal statements.. and begin compiling a list of scholarships you might be eligible for so you can hit the ground running senior year.

Second, and perhaps more importantly, it takes awhile for the family as a whole to think about how college costs fit into the family budget.  Sticker shock is a pretty common response when students and parents first start to think about college costs.  If you've been following the news, you may have heard that college costs have been rising rapidly over the past decade or so.  Gift aid has not necessarily kept up with this trend.  That leaves more and more students and families borrowing to make up the difference, with the resulting student loan crisis that has also been frequently discussed in the news lately.  Thinking about and discussing college costs early and often can help your family create a plan to minimize the amount you will need to borrow to complete your education.  As with grants and scholarships, an earlier start on the research phase may also help you find better terms for any loans you do take out.

Finally, the paralysis caused by this sticker shock may cause you to waver in your quest for higher education, or miss the opportunity to apply to some of the schools that might be the best fit.  At the very least, it can cause excessive stress during an already stressful time.  If you've dealt with the cost issue early, and come up with a viable plan to address those costs, you can focus on the college and scholarship applications.

So what's a family to do?

• Starting as early as possible, look at the cost of attendance for a variety of schools you may be interested in.  This information can be easily found on the most college websites.  
• Next, estimate your expected family contribution (EFC) using the FAFSA forecaster.  This is the amount the federal government thinks you should be able to afford to contribute towards your child's education
• Does this amount seem reasonable?  Unfortunately, short of earning less money (which will not really help the problem) or having another child (not a decision you want to make based on how it affects your EFC) there is not much you can do to change your EFC, so begin thinking about how you might change your family's budget to make this amount reasonable.
• The EFC gives the total amount per year you are expected to contribute to your student's education.  It might help psychologically to break this down into a monthly amount.  Where a $6,000 EFC might seem overwhelming, the idea that's $600 per month over the course of the academic year might not seem quite so outrageous.  And if your student is living away from home, remember you'll have some savings for not having to feed him/her during those 10 months.
• Check out payment plans at the colleges you are interested in.  Sometimes breaking up the total cost into smaller payments can help it fit into your budget better, and help avoid taking out loans.
• Once you've got your EFC, you can begin to think about how much additional aid you will need.  For middle class families, aid given based on the FAFSA often comes in the forms of loans.  Doing some scouting for scholarship options now can help reduce the need for loans later.
• I wish I could tell you you're going to be able to finance your entire education with loans and grants, but I would probably be lying to you.  Student loans are a ubiquitous part of the package in paying for college.  By thinking ahead, however, you can reduce the amount you need to borrow, and look for the best possible terms on the money you do borrow.

Also, keep this in mind: According to the US Bureau of labor statistics (2012), a person with a bachelor's degree, on average, earns about $20,000 more per year than someone with only a high school diploma.  Furthermore, the person with the bachelor's degree is half as likely to be unemployed. So it's likely that taking out a few loans to make it through school could give you a very good return on your investment over the course of your career.  More on loans - what to look for, which have the best terms, etc. in my next post.

Rising College Costs and more on Financial Aid

For anyone who's been looking into colleges, it will come as no surprise that college costs are rising... and rising, and rising some more, to somewhat shocking levels.  In light of this fact, I'd like to take this opportunity to add to the information and suggestions from past posts regarding financial aid.

If you've read my previous posts, you might have noticed that I strongly advocate looking beyond California (or whatever your home state is), and beyond public institutions to expand your choices.  There are over 4,000 colleges and universities in the United States, and each one has a unique way of calculating costs and financial aid awards.  The most important consideration in choosing a college is not the location, the degree programs they offer, the cost.... all of those things are important, but the most important consideration is the fit - how well does the college fit the needs, interests, and unique talents of the student.  Cost is, of course, one factor in that fit, and in many cases a major factor.  You don't want to get through your dream education just to find yourself shackled to crippling debt for a major portion of the rest of your life.  In some cases, it might make financial sense to stay in your home state, in other cases, it might be more affordable to go out of state.  A lot of this depends on the aid offered by your state, and whether or not you qualify for that aid.

But first, a note on community colleges.  I work with high school students, and often hear "I have to go to a community college because I can't afford to go to a 4-year university."  I want to start by saying there is nothing wrong with beginning your education at a community college - it is a great choice for many students.  However, it breaks my heart when a student is choosing this option even though it is clearly not their preference, simply because they feel they have no choice.  Especially when the student is not planning to live at home, in which case (depending on the family's financial situation) it might not be any less expensive to attend a community college.

OK, enough intro - now let's get down to how to keep college costs under control. Most of the rest of this is focused on California residents - if you are not a resident of California, or choose to attend a school outside of California, skip to "Non-California Residents or attending school out of state" below.

California residents

If you are a California resident, and your family income falls in the low to moderate range, you may be eligible for a Cal Grant that will pay tuition and fees at any California public college or university, and some private schools as well (up to certain limits).  There are three types of Cal Grants:

• Cal Grant A: Covers tuition and fees at CSU (up to $5970) and UC (up to $12,192) schools.  This means you could go to Humboldt State or UC Santa Cruz, and not have to worry about tuition and fees.  You still will need to come up with money to cover living expenses, books, transportation, and personal expenses.  
• Cal Grant B: For very low-income students, will provide up to $1,473 for books and living expenses.  After Freshman year, it also covers tuition and fees at the same levels as Cal Grant A.
• Cal Grant C: Pays tuition and training costs at occupational and career-technical schools

More information on Cal Grants can be found on the Cal Grants website.  

What if you want to start at a community college?  How does that affect your Cal Grant?

• Cal Grant A: Your award will be held in reserve for up to two years until you transfer to a 4-year college.  As a Cal Grant recipient, community college fees will be waived.  Be warned, though, many students take more than 2 years to transfer from a community college - make sure to speak with a counselor early and often at your community college to make sure you are on track to transfer within two years.
• Cal Grant B: You can use the $1,473 living allowance to pay for books and other expenses at the community college, but you will use up some of your Cal Grant eligibility.  You are probably better off deferring your Cal Grant until you transfer to a 4-year university
• Cal Grant C: will pay for expenses for technical, career-training programs at some community colleges.
• If you do not initially receive a Cal Grant, or if it takes more than 2 years to transfer, you can also apply for the Cal Grant again when you transfer to a 4-year university.

To apply for the Cal Grant, complete the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) before the March 2 deadline.

In addition to the Cal Grant, some schools have developed their own ways to make college affordable for California residents.  For example, the Blue and Gold program at UC Davis guarantees gift aid to cover tuition and fees for all California residents with a family income under $80,000, assuming they have financial need (based on the FAFSA, which will generally be the case as long as the family does not have an exorbitant amount of assets). To qualify, you need to complete the FAFSA by the March 2 deadline.

Non-California residents or students attending schools out of state

This advice actually applies to all students, whether California residents or not:

• Complete the FAFSA early.  Some schools award available financial aid funds based on the date of application - first applied, first served.
• Apply for all scholarships and grants you are eligible for - some may be only for $500 or $1,000, but they can add up to a big chunk of aid, and help reduce the amount you need to borrow. Ask the guidance counselor at your school for suggestions on local scholarships.  The applicant pool is smaller and you may have a better chance at getting them.  If your counselor doesn't have a list, check out the websites of other high schools near you - many of the scholarships listed there are probably open to you as well.
• Look into inter-state agreements and tuition exchange programs (see my previous post on the Western Undergraduate Exchange).  If the cost of living is high where you live (e.g. California or New York), you may find it more affordable to attend an out-of-state school that participates in this sort of inter-state exchange program.
• Look at the financial aid/scholarship page for the schools you are applying to.  Many schools have their own in-house source of grants and scholarships.  Some require a separate application.  Check into school-based scholarships as soon as you decide you want to apply to the school - deadlines vary and some are fairly early.
• Don't discount private schools.  Many people panic when they see the advertised cost of some private schools.  In fact, you won't know what it will actually cost YOU until you complete the financial aid application process and see your award letter.  Because some private schools have more gift aid available, it may actually cost less out-of-pocket to go to that expensive private school than it would to go to the "cheaper" public university.
• If you are considering a career in the military, look into ROTC scholarships. The Army, Navy, and Air Force all offer ROTC scholarships in certain academic fields.  The scholarship requires participation in the school's ROTC program (so, of course, they are only available at schools with the appropriate ROTC program), and a commitment to active duty (usually 4 or 5 years) after graduation, followed by several years in the military reserve.  Only pursue this if you have a true interest in serving in the military - not just to get money for school.  By taking this scholarship, you are making a serious commitment to military service - make sure you are ready for that commitment before you apply.

If you do have to take out loans.....

Much of your financial aid offer will probably come in the form of loans.  If you are going to take out loans, be sure to take advantage of the subsidized loans first.  The main difference between subsidized and unsubsidized loans:

• Subsidized loans generally have a lower interest rate, and do not start accruing interest until after you graduate.  You do not need to start paying back the loan until you are out of school - even if you go on to graduate school after you graduate.
• Unsubsidized loans generally have a higher interest rate.  Although you don't have to pay back the loan until after you are out of school, the interest DOES accrue during this deferment period, so you will find yourself owing a lot more than you borrowed.

Once you've exhausted your options with subsidized loans, I strongly suggest you look into other financing options before taking on an unsubsidized loan.  Generally speaking, the terms on unsubsidized loans aren't too great, and if you do have to borrow further, you may be able to find a better deal with sources of credit you already have available.

In conclusion....

I wish I could tell you that you will probably be able to find financial aid to fully fund your college education, but I would probably be lying.  A lucky few do get a full ride scholarship, or combination of gift aid that pays all expenses for college.  A lucky few more have enough income and assets that they can pay their own way without any financial aid.  Most students fall somewhere in the middle - they qualify for some gift aid, dip into some savings, and take out some loans.  By being pro-active in your search for financial aid, applying early, applying for all scholarships you even remotely qualify for, and considering all sources of aid available in your state and at the schools you apply for, you can put yourself in a better position to make college affordable.

Online learning - the future of education?

With tuition costs skyrocketing at many colleges and universities, and admission becoming more difficult at selective schools, debate is raging about a new (or perhaps not so new - depending on who you ask) development in higher education - Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). This month, I'm going to take a break from my normal focus on college admissions and financial aid advice and explore a developing trend in higher education.

MOOCs share some features with the old-time correspondence courses - flexibility, independent learning, the ability to access the course from anywhere, on your own terms.  With advancing technology, however, MOOCS add a lot more - video lectures, links to nearly unlimited online resources, including interactive learning tools, and the ability to easily reach many thousands of students.

Arguments rage over the benefits and drawbacks of MOOCs.  For a good overview of the debate, see the following articles:

Napster, Udacity, and the Academy
Venture Capital's Massive, Terrible Idea for the Future of College
The Crisis in Higher Education

For a brief synopsis of the arguments, obvious advantages to MOOCs include:

• They're free
• Timing is usually flexible; you can access and work your way through the material in a way that fits your schedule
• They give access to some great courses developed by outstanding professors at prestigious universities
• They can reach many, many students - sometimes over 100,000 students in a single course
• They provide unprecedented access to higher education, regardless of geography, socio-economic status, ability to pay, or any other demographic feature

Some disadvantages to MOOCs include:

• High dropout rate - in many cases less than 20% of students who enroll complete even the first assignment
• There is little or no connection between the professor and the student
• There are some things a course with a dynamic professor can offer that can never be replicated in online education
• The course relies heavily on student self-motivation to complete (see first bullet point above)
• Quality control can be a problem - some courses have the backing of prestigious universities and are probably a good bet, but there's no guarantee
• They currently offer little or no support for struggling students; resources that might be found in a traditional college class.
• With so many students, there is no way for the professor to give direct feedback to all the students; grading relies on computer-graded quizzes and sometimes peer feedback.

The last point, about peer feedback, is not necessarily a bad thing; it's the way things work for research in many disciplines - the problem is that at the MOOC level, there is no shared level of expertise among the peer reviewers.

For more information on how this process works, see the following video from TED about Massive Open Online Courses:

Recently, the discussion has escalated with the announcement that some courses offered through the online provider Coursera may be eligible for credit.  These include courses from University of California at Irvine, Duke University, and University of Pennsylvania.  Issues of verification of student identity and work completed (proctoring) are yet to be worked out, but this is a large step forward in MOOCs becoming part of the mainstream of higher education.

So, will students be abandoning traditional universities and flocking to MOOCs?  Probably not. However, these massive online courses are sure to leave a mark on the world of university education.  Some developments that are already having an impact on campuses around the country:

• The rapid proliferation of MOOCS is causing advances in the development and dissemination of technology that can be useful in traditional classes as well - incorporating more multi-media and interactive content into university courses
• The large enrollment (hundreds of thousands of students) provides a gold mine of data for research into online education.  In fact, one of the websites offering courses (EdX) was perhaps designed in order to conduct research on student learning as much as to educate the students enrolled in the courses.
• MOOCs give prospective students the chance to try out a course - with little financial or academic risk - before they commit to the school.  They may also provide a good opportunity for pre-college students to experience college level coursework and get a feel for the level of reading and critical thinking they will experience in college.  A word of caution however - not all MOOCs are created equal, and quality control is still something that's being worked out.

One ideal use of MOOCs is for continuing education for mid-career professionals.  Much of the above information was brought to my attention in a MOOC I am currently taking on E-learning and Digital Cultures. 

So, freshmen, sophomores, and juniors, you are not off the hook for college and financial aid applications.  But, if you're interested, you might want to check out some of the course offerings at the following sites providing access to MOOCs (descriptions taken from the websites of the various organizations).  And share this information with your parents - there might be something there for them, too.

Non-profit organizations offering MOOCs:

EdX is a not-for-profit enterprise of its founding partners Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology that features learning designed specifically for interactive study via the web.

The Open Learning Initiative (OLI) is a grant-funded group at Carnegie Mellon University, offering innovative online courses to anyone who wants to learn or teach.  Our aim is to create high-quality courses and contribute original research to improve learning and transform higher education.

For-profit companies offering MOOCs:

Coursera: We are a social entrepreneurship company that partners with the top universities in the world to offer courses online for anyone to take, for free. We envision a future where the top universities are educating not only thousands of students, but millions.

Udacity was born out of a Stanford University experiment in which Sebastian Thrun and Peter Norvig offered their "Introduction to Artificial Intelligence" course online to anyone, for free.  Over 160,000 students in more than 190 countries enrolled and not much later, Udacity was born. Now wer'e a growing team of educators and engineers on a mission to change the future of education.

What do you think?  Please feel free to comment on how online education in general, and MOOCs in particular, are likely to affect the future of higher education.

Finding Money for College

Just the process of choosing and applying to colleges is complicated enough, before even beginning to think about how to pay for it.  To help navigate what can be a complicated and confusing process, be sure to familiarize yourself with all of the resources available to you, starting with the following financial aid overview:

There are four basic types of financial aid:

• grants
• scholarships
• work-study
• loans

The first two are basically free money that can be applied towards college, and don't need to be paid back.  Grants are generally based on financial need, possibly subject to certain academic requirements.  Scholarships are usually competitive, may be based on both financial need and academic achievement (measured by GPA and test scores), and may take into account other factors, including demographics, community involvement or student interests.  Work study is a program where the federal government pays part of a student's wages, providing the student a better chance at getting a job on campus to earn money while attending college.  Loans, as the name implies, are distributions of money that need to be paid back eventually.  Loans can be either subsidized or unsubsidized, greatly affecting the total amount that will need to be paid back.  Subsidized loans are a much better deal for students, since they do not start accumulating interest until after the student has graduated from college.  Furthermore, the interest rates are generally much lower than those for unsubsidized loans.

The starting point for all financial aid is the FAFSA - the Free Application for Federal Student Aid. If you are considering attending college, you should fill out the FAFSA form in January of your senior year, regardless of whether or not you think you will qualify for aid.  Although the FAFSA will ask for tax information, you do not need to wait until you file your taxes before completing the FAFSA - submit the FAFSA as soon as you are able in January.  After your taxes are filed, you can go back and make adjustments to your application.  Make sure you are on the correct website - fafsa.ed.gov - there are several look-alike sites that are not the official site.  Remember, this is the FREE Application for Federal Student Aid - if the site is trying to charge you for their services, you are on the wrong website! If you are not yet a senior, but are curious about what type of aid you might qualify for, you can estimate your financial aid using the FAFSA forecaster - fafsa4caster.ed.gov

Other sources to consider when searching for scholarships are the McConnell Foundation Scholarship (http://www.mcconnellfoundation.org/) and the Ford Family Foundation Scholarship (http://www.tfff.org/ScholarshipPrograms/SummaryofScholarshipPrograms/tabid/83/Default.aspx). These are the biggest scholarships in this region (Northern California), and provide up to 90% of unmet need - that is, the scholarships will pay up to 90% of college costs not covered by other grants and scholarships.  This includes not only tuition, but also books, housing and transportation expenses, and all other expenses related to attending college.  Finally, College Options (a community college counseling service located in Redding) offers a wealth of information on financial aid resources: http://www.collegeoptions.org/scholarships.html  Also be sure to contact your high school counselor for assistance with your scholarship search and financial aid application.  Think of researching and applying for scholarships as a job - if you spend 20 hours researching and completing scholarship applications, and you receive a $1,000 scholarship, that works out to $50 per hour!